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This post was written by Melonie Gallegos for iMediaconnection

 

In this piece, there are 8 tips to help marketers get in on the social curation boom in a meaningful way - that means Pinterest and beyond!

 

Here's an excerpt:

 

"Curation is a long-standing tradition of collecting, saving & organizing objects. Today it takes on a different meaning. Organizataions have evolved from collecting artifacts to digital curation of media and content"

 

When human behavior shifts and it certainly has, (more about that in the article), brands are quick to follow suit.

 

Here are some highlights:

 

There are a lot of websites offfering curation-type services

 

To get a clear sense of how a brand might leverage curation in this article, they have broken them down into categories.

 

**social bookmarking and news

 

**sharing

 

**Aggregation and syndication networks

 

**There are 8 ways your brand can get in on the action

 

Here are a few that caught my attention:

 

Become a curator creator

 

**Create your own Pinterest board and it's more than just slapping images, it takes thought, strategy, being part of the community and continually showing up

 

**appreciating other people's content and having two-way conversations

 

Create an Interest-based content strategy

 

**Focus on the interests of your audience, not your products and services!

 

**Allign their real-life interests with your brand position

 

Curated by Jan Gordon covering "Pinterest Watch"

 

Read full article here: [http://bit.ly/IXNQQB]

Via janlgordon

I selected this piece by Steve Olenski  for Forbes because it's good for B2C marketers to see the results of their social media campaigns.

 

This article is specifically aimed at B2C marketers where their consumers want instant gratification - promotions, giveaways, etc. Having said that, part of the purchasing cycle can include content in some cases depending on what you're selling and who your audience is.

 

Here are findings of a survey recently conducted by Market Force - a worldwide leader in customer intelligence solutions.

 

12,000 consumers in the US and UK were asked how they engaged with varying industries via social media: Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Google+

 

Here's what caught my attention:

 

**81% of US respondents indicated posts from their friends directly influenced their purchase decision

 

**80% of respondents “tried new things based on friends’ suggestions.”

 

**78% of respondents said the posts by companies they follow on social media impact their purchases.

 

**consumers are not all that interested in content but rather want something i.e. a promotion, giveaway, etc. when it comes to social media and their favorite brands.

 

Are Brands finally "getting it" when it comes to social media?

 

**They are getting more and more cognizant of the fact that what they post, share and so on can and will impact what the end user does – in this case, make a purchase decision.

 

**out of the 12,000 who participated 75% were women. This is incredibly significant given the fact that women account for 85% of all consumer purchases

 

Selected by Jan Gordon covering,  "Content Curation. Social Business and Beyond"

 

See full article here: [http://onforb.es/KQTqAR]

Via janlgordon

Most of the time, people are visiting a website to fulfill a particular goal. If something gets in their way, most of the time, they simply leave. Here’s how you can avoid that and why role-based personas are useful for conversion optimization.

Via AnnaGenis

"It’s not logical to think that consumers will ever volunteer to watch or share our marketing, so let’s stop making marketing and instead start telling stories. We need to unshackle ourselves from old formats and embrace an idea that has existed since humans first began communicating."

 

The only piece that's missing in this post is any discussion about the fundamental dynamic of storytelling:  story sharing. It seems the author is still focused on broadcasting stories instead of engaging in swapping stories with customers (i.e. listening to their stories in return).

 

But one step at a time :) ....

Via Karen Dietz, Martin (Marty) Smith